On that day…So begins the eleventh chapter of the Book of Prophet Isaiah, the content of which is the prophet’s vision of a kingdom transformed by a spirit-endowed governance of a Davidic king (a king who will be guided by wisdom and fear of the Lord in his responsibility of governing his subjects). The prophet’s vision is of what has widely been described as the ideal world, a world that we nostalgically identify with the pristine state of the Garden of Eden prior to the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. It is a vision of a sinless world, a description of a world in which creatures not only have knowledge of the Lord but have also retained the fraternal bond that ties them one to another. Isaiah’s vision is of a world where creatures live in harmony and peace as had been intended by the Creator. However, inasmuch as the chapter describes the state of things prior to the fall, it is also a vision of a future, transformed world. To the ears of a people living in a world torn apart by strife, chaos, and disharmony, the vision of the prophet is a description of a world to which we all look forward with hope. It is a vision of that world which will come about when the peoples of the earth shall have sought out the Lord God in order to bow before him as their Savior Lord and ruler.
For us who are reading these words of the Prophet Isaiah as part of our Advent reflection, we are full of confidence that the ideal world described in the vision shall be realized. This is because
on that day, the Lord God shall appoint a special judge whose responsibility will be shepherding the peoples of the world under their one Creator God. This judge will be able to accomplish this because the Spirit of the Lord shall be upon him, and his mission will be the restoration of justice. For us living in the Common Era, this prophecy has been fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the special judge in whose name all the tribes of the earth are being blessed (Responsorial Psalm). While in his birth and resurrection he has certainly given new life to the world and set it on the path to full restoration, it is in his second coming (understood as the deliverance of the created world from its present bondage to corruption [cf. Romans 8:21]) that will bring this restoration to completion. This is why until it happens, we all await with longing for
the day of the Lord to come upon us.